I installed a system that keeps the lights on during blackouts and realized I'm mostly paying for the right to never think about that problem again.
For the last two days I’ve been electrifying the office and my parents’ apartment. At home we already have a system that keeps the lights on during blackouts.
I’ve been tracking how I feel over these 48 hours. And I realized that what I’m really paying for is the ability to not think about this problem at all.
I remember how, back when I worked with wealthy clients, I was amazed at how much they were willing to pay just to free themselves from household matters and focus their attention on the strategic questions of their business and on their families.
Gradually I’m starting to understand that logic. When you pay other specialists (in any field), when you buy the products and services that make your life simpler, you free up an inner resource — and you can redirect it toward the things that take you to the next level.
Right now I watch a lot of people trying to handle every household task themselves. Paying the delivery service to bring a parcel to their door strikes them as a strange idea. They’ll spend hours untangling complicated instructions and diagrams rather than calling and paying a specialist. Plenty of people will clean the office or their apartment themselves rather than hire a cleaning service, even when they can easily afford it.
Personally I believe our attention is very limited. The few things that land inside it start to grow. When we fill our heads with household matters and small repetitive work processes, we simply have no mental capacity left for the things that actually matter.
That’s exactly why, even though we already have a generator at the office, we spend more money on a system that saves us the time of starting and maintaining that generator.
Do you agree with the idea that it’s better to pay for household and other tasks so your head is free for strategy, for new decisions, for time with family?